Macleod was born in Christchurch, New Zealand in 1956 and moved to Sydney, Australia in 1981, where he continues to live and work. He received a Certificate in Graphic Design from the Christchurch Technical Institute in 1975 and a Diploma in Fine Arts (Painting) from the University of Canterbury in 1979.[1] Macleod deals mostly with landscapes and the human presence within it. The lone, anonymous figure is a common symbol in his work that embodies both the artist's self-portrait and the "Everyman" or universal experience of emptiness, worthlessness and impotence.[2] He has been described as both an expressionist and a symbolist and his dense, textured and sculptural use of paint has become a consistent feature of his work.[3] Macleod is not limited when it comes to the landscapes he paints, feeling equally at home in the picturesque New Zealand countryside and the harsh and flat Australian outback and often painting a hybrid of both landscapes.[2] As well as pursuing his art he is currently also teaching painting at the National Art School in Sydney.

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Throughout his prolific 30 plus year career Macleod has exhibited frequently. In 1980 he was involved in his first exhibition Tar Paint Plastic at the Settlement Gallery, Wellington with artists Debra Bustin and Alison Clouston, which was hailed as an "impressive debut"[1] by reviewer Neil Rowe. Since then he has held over 100 solo shows and been involved in over 200 group shows. He exhibits most frequently with Niagara Galleries, Melbourne, Watters Gallery, Sydney and Bowen Galleries, Wellington. Macleod has also been involved in the Melbourne Art Fair since 2004 as well as the Auckland Art Fair since 2007.[4]

Macleod was a finalist in the Wynne Prize in 1998 with a 3m wide work "Seascape through Figures" then again in 1999 and 2003 and won the Archibald Prize in 1999, with his painting titled Self portrait/head like a hole. He was a finalist in the Sulman Prize in 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2000, before winning the prize in 2001, with the painting titled Exquisite Corpse with Fire. Macleod won the Blake Prize for Religious Art in 2006 and the Gallipoli Art Prize in 2009.[1]